How To Decrease Profits Without Really Trying

Writen by Kennedy Rahaman

Hurting your sales efforts can be accomplished easily with the proper guidance. The following effective yet simple ideas are designed to generate results when implemented into your sales strategy.

• Don't listen to what your clients are saying.

You are the expert and prospects should be happy that you have been able to set aside some time for them. Spend your time talking more than asking questions and listening. Try to not answer as many of their questions and concerns as possible, this turns the focus away from you and on to the customer. Above all keep talking up the features of what you are offering as one of them may somewhat meet the client's needs.

• Don't target your customers effectively

Selling is a game of numbers although some odds may be higher than others. To that end remember each lead is as good as another. Dealing only with qualified and interested prospects increases sales, revenue, and profit ratios but cuts down on prospecting time, prospecting of course being the name of the game. Kudos to whoever realized that prospecting should be 75%-80% of your career and actually selling should be 20%-25%. This may seem backwards and counterproductive if you really examine this formula but the founder of this principle is a genius I am sure.

• Work towards improving your situation and not the client's

Listen, you wouldn't be in business if clients didn't exchange their money for your services. Knowing that, make as much money as you can from the client in as short a time as possible. Sell them, and then sell them some more regardless of its usefulness to the client. Don't be concerned with the future relationship or business. We can almost guarantee that you will not see this customer in the long term so no time like the present. If their checking account can handle it then have them buy it. It's about you not them.

• Focus on how great you are and not how you can improve the clients situation in some way.

Unleash a barrage of information on the prospect regarding your awards, world class customer service, cutting edge this and that, and every other self determined worthwhile achievement that you can think of. If the prospect tries to interrupt with anything resembling a "what's in it for me" attitude pour on some more. They have not been sufficiently impressed by you and are still concerned with what they want, use, and can afford. Sooner or later they will realize that it is all about you and will send you on your way. CONGRATULATIONS!! There is another inflow of revenue lost. You are well on your way.

• Force referrals from clients at inappropriate times

Ask for referrals before the client is comfortable with you or what you offer. If they seem reluctant make them feel guilty. Not only are you sure to not receive any referrals then but you will probably not get them at all.

• Think of all customer interactions as battles

The more you think of clients as adversaries and less as collaborators the better the chance you have of losing them. One simple exercise is to firmly believe that it is impossible for you and the client to get what both of you want. One of you has to lose in order for the other to win. Organizations that employ this method are realizing substantial revenue loss and client defection daily.

• Make it hard for customers to do business with you

This by far is the best, most easily implemented, and widely used method for sales, revenue, and profit degeneration. As this method can take many different routes to the end result you may have already implemented some portions without realizing it. Are any of these already hard at work undermining your organization?

• Do not return phone calls or emails in a timely manner or at all in some cases.

• Whether a customer wants to use your service, ask a question, or solve an issue pass them along until they give up or fall through the cracks.

• Train employees to believe that once a customer has been sent somewhere they are in the clear and their job is done. Soon enough they will realize that the goal is to send the customer along and not actually provide a solution. No follow up internally or externally is necessary.

• Focus on where the customer is wrong and keep hammering away at those points.

• Make sure that each new person the client speaks to has a different story and a healthy portion of blame for someone or something else. As an extra bonus send them back to the original person they spoke to.

• By all means DO NOT allow anyone the opportunity to fix a small issue before it becomes a big problem. Make your employees as well as customers jump through hoops of fire if they want satisfactory service.

Using any of these seven methods will turbo charge the process of "Going Out of Business" for your organization. The use of more than one increases your chances exponentially.

This is an opportune time to evaluate how many of these your organization uses everyday. Remember the more of these you use the faster you get results. Lowered market share, lost revenue, poor sales performance, and unhealthy profits are easily realized with this model.

About The Author

Kennedy C. Rahaman, President of Bluefin Management Consulting, assists sales organizations in accelerating and increasing revenues and profitability by leveraging the resources available within the organization. To learn more about us browse our website at bluefinventures.com. For information on consulting, training, or speaking call 781 341 3998 or email us info@bluefinventures.com.

krahaman@bluefinventures.com

medical health hospital

Diversity Increases Group Decisionmaking Ability

Writen by Rick Weaver

A recent study by Tufts University scientists looked into the impact of diversity relative to juries. As reported by the United Press International, the study looked at decisions made by all-white juries in decisions made by a diverse jury of blacks and whites.

The study looked strictly at all-white versus black-and-white juries and made no apparent attempt to involve other national or racial cultures.

According to the study, diverse groups made fewer factual errors relative to the evidence in when errors were made they were more likely to be identified as errors.

The Multicultural Business Council (www.mbc-usa.org)has long supported the body of knowledge that states diversity will enhance decision-making ability.

"The more diversity you can get in any decision-making team will increase your chances arriving at the best possible decision," points out Rick Weaver, Chief Operations Officer of the Multicultural Business Council. "By involving people with different life experiences, you're most likely get people to look at different possibilities when examining conclusions and solutions. This is not to say that you want a large group, it is simply to say that the more diversity you can recruit the more likely you are to consider options that a single cultural group may not even have considered."

The Multicultural Business Council has always included diversity exercises when training organizations on team building skills, decision-making skills, and problem-solving skills. In these classes participants quickly understand the need for diversity if they are to be successful. Experiential learning methods prove to the participants that it is not simply necessary to work together as a team, but to make sure the team is comprised of a solid blend of unique backgrounds and experiences.

Rick Weaver is an accomplished business executive with a wealth of experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain enhancement, project management, team building, and process improvement.

Rick career began in retailing as a stockclerk, eventually becoming the Director of Vendor Development at Kmart Corporation during it's heyday. In this position he worked with hundreds of Kmart's suppliers to improve mutual processes, procedures, and profits.

As a consultant, Rick has worked with companies in various industries to develop leadership and business strategies. As an entrepreneur, Rick has founded or co-founded six successful organizations, including non-profit and for profit. Now in his role as president of MaxImpact, Rick uses his vast experience helping individuals connect to their dreams and teams connect to a common vision.

Rick's presentation style of blending humor, real life examples, and easy to implement ideas has made him a popular speaker at seminars, workshops, and conferences in in 43 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Paradigms Or Bust

Writen by Graeme Nichol

It's amazing, people we meet and know are all striving for success, in business or their personal lives but they rarely achieve it. Or rarely do they think they have achieved it. Why is this? They have a mindset that holds them back. We read about this and similar statements and then laugh it off as some mumbo jumbo foo foo stuff.

Why? Well probably because of our education and backgrounds. The more educated we are the more we ask; "How can that #@$bleeping stuff be of any value to me?" Then we realize that in many ways our education was designed to create workers who didn't challenge the conventions and wisdoms!

One of the powerful mental attitudes we have is our individual paradigm under which we operate. This paradigm for all intents and purposes is created through our learning and our experiences. The good stuff and the bad. Now it's the bad stuff we are trying to shy away from to move ahead with our lives and careers. Well, we could learn from the bad stuff as well as the successes. Build on the successes for even greater rewards.

The 'knowing doing gap'. We know what to do but just are not doing it, or enough of it!

We know that our brains are living organs that are programmed by us on a daily basis. What we tell our brain is what our brains allow us to do. The synapses of the brain and associated chemistry are what create our memory.

One of the great things about science is its assumption that what we think we know today will probably be proven wrong tomorrow. Developed theories, by earlier scientists are essentially platforms enabling us to climb higher, as Sir Isaac Newton said, "If I have been privileged to see farther than others, it's because I stood on the shoulders of giants."

It's only by asking questions, challenging the assumptions and the "truths" taken for granted at a point in time, that science progresses. The Pythagorean Brotherhood knew this and tried to keep control of knowledge. They only wanted their brotherhood to succeed. They didn't succeed and society has developed and thrived as a response!

What if this turned out to be true for our personal lives, our individual growth and progress? What if we could challenge our assumptions and do things we never thought possible? Guess what? You can. It is true. When you break free of your assumptions about yourself, you will grow more than you ever thought possible.

It's amazing to see how many businesses falter under limiting beliefs. We can't sell so many! That will never work here… We tried that… are all limiting their success.

In developing strategic plans; do we look at our belief systems, collectively and individually? No. We do SWOT analyses and Porters' 5 Forces but we don't look at the factors inhibiting success within the individuals creating the plan. Or the factors affecting the learning disabilities of the organization. So if we can create new paradigms that will take the organization and its staff to new successes, wouldn't that be powerful?

Including your limiting paradigm and developing a powerful new paradigm going forward is what will lead us to success.

Isn't this interesting? What is amazing is that this is a core part of the Best Year Yet Process. Test it out for yourself as a free introduction at http://www.bestyearyet.com/Personal/BYYONew1.cfm?lang=US please ut the code283 in so I know how many of my readers looked at this!

By Graeme Nichol of Arcturus Advisors. Please visit their website at http://www.arcturusadvisors.com. Arcturus Advisors works with the Best Year Yet process to help business teams increase their productivity and performance by ensuring that team members are all on the same page and pulling in the same direction.

Managing Expectations

Writen by Mike Myatt

The art and science behind making commitments and managing expectations has always been a critical skill set for senior executives and entrepreneurs to master. In fact, understanding how to come out on the right-side of the expectation curve can often be the difference between average performers and superstars. This is evidenced by the fact that the consulting industry has zeroed in on the importance of this issue such that it has evolved into an emerging discipline known as "Promise Management". In this blog post I'll discuss the value of promise management as a discipline.

Nothing engenders confidence and creates a trust bond like delivering on promises made and likewise few things erode confidence and credibility like commitments not kept. In a previous post entitled: "Follow Through" I discussed the importance of saying what you mean, meaning what you say and doing what you say you'll do. The science of promise management is systematically connecting what is said with what is done. The art of promise management is closing, or better yet, eliminating the expectation gap. Blend the art and science together and you have the framework for what is becoming the differentiating factor in performance based decisioning for the twenty-first century.

Conflicts, disagreements, disputes and litigation are often born out of expectation gaps. Expectations cut both ways…Keeping what you perceive as being your end of the bargain is only half of the equation as what you think only matters if it is in alignment with the understanding of the other party. We have all found ourselves in the unenviable position of assigning work product only to end-up with the deliverable falling far short of expectations while having the producer of said work product thinking they exceeded all expectations.

Expectations exist throughout the entire value chain with every stakeholder needing and deserving to have their expectations managed and met. Whether it is managing customer expectations, shareholder or analyst expectations, or the inverse of employees having to deal with the expectations of executives, it is the ability to excel at decisioning based upon managing expectations that creates high performance organizations.

Promises that are made based upon solid reasoning and underlying business logic that are consistently kept will help to create a solid brand attracting loyal customers and talented employees. The following three practices will help create an organization that delivers on its commitments:

1. Collaborate early and often: Decisioning in a vacuum or without all the facts will place you in a deficit from the beginning. It is at best extremely difficult to manage expectations and deliver on commitments made if you don't have clear visibility as to what is wanted or needed. Before making promises or commitments collaborate with all concerned parties to insure that expectations are understood.

2. Resist making verbal commitments: Most misunderstandings occur as a result of improper interpretation of oral communications. Most broken commitments result from impulsive verbal promises made before all the details were sorted out. Once you have gained clarity as to the perceived need to be fulfilled place your understanding of the deliverables in writing by outlining key business points and circulate the document for review and comments. Where possible resist formalizing agreements, proposals, or other commitments until you have alignment on key expectations and deliverables.

3. Manages promises like projects: Build a culture that breaks down all commitments made into deliverables, benchmarks and deadlines. Allocate resources, budget and staff while managing the commitment within a framework of measured accountability. Treating all commitments and promises as formal projects will help manage performance risk and will also create continuity of process and delivery.

Performance based decisioning based upon principles of promise management will lead to a certainty of execution that should translate into one of your company's greatest competitive advantages.

Mike Myatt is the Chief Strategy Officer at N2growth. N2growth is a leading venture growth consultancy providing a unique array of professional services to high growth companies on a venture based business model. The rare combination of branding and corporate identity services, capital formation assistance, market research and business intelligence, sales and product engineering, leadership development and talent management, as well as marketing, advertising and public relations services make N2growth the industry leader in strategic growth consulting. More information about the company can be found at http://www.N2growth.com or by viewing http://www.N2growth.com/blog

Preparing A Budget

Writen by Sue And Chuck DeFiore

Ok, you say, I know I need a budget, but how do I prepare one? The most common budget period is one year, but this can vary depending on whether or not your business has seasonal or cyclical fluctuations. For example if you run a Christmas decorations shop, or a costume shop your business is going to peak during certain times of the year.

The budgeting process usually begins with the collection of accounting data. In order to prepare a strong and achievable budget, you must analyze each item of income and expense from the prior year. If your accounting system is a mess and the figures are inaccurate, the numbers used in your budget will be useless. This is why it is so important to keep good records. Quicken and Quickbooks are excellent programs to help you with setting up an accounting system that is easy to use and understand.

If you can review your prior year's figures with confidence, try to cultivate your strong areas and look for ways to increase performance or volume. For example, if one particular product sold well, take a closer look at that product. What you did to market it, etc. and try to model your other products in the same vein to accomplish the same results.

You also need to analyze your weak spots. If possible, set up some type of internal control over the weak areas. A cost analysis will help you determine if you are actually making money on the sale of a certain product. This is a big problem with new business owners. They don't do the research or due diligence in determining the need for their product. In effect, they spend a great deal of time and money with a product that is never even going to break even. You cannot get emotionally tied to your product. If it is not selling, let it go and move on to what is selling.

If your business is in its first year, your budget will involve a little more homework. Keep in mind that a budget is an expression of your goals. Try to determine the number of billable hours you might reasonably expect to charge for within a year's time. If you are in sales, try to establish the number of items you will be able to sell. After determining the revenue portion, you should look to your expenses.

Some expenses, like rent, will be fixed because they do not change from month to month. For example, if your office space rent is $3,000 per month, you must still pay $3,000 per month, regardless of whether or not you have made any sales or earned any income. This is why working out of a home office, if you can, is so much better. You can substantially cut your rental costs down.

Another type of expense is a variable one. In budgeting, this is known as a variable "cost," which is a cost that increases with the level of sales or income. They are variable because the more income you generate, the greater the costs you will incur (this just means the more you sell, you more you have to buy).

If you have others working for you, sales commissions are an example of a variable expense—the greater the sales revenue, the greater the sales commissions.

You need to be sure to do research before starting your business to determine what comprises your fixed and variable costs.

Certain types of businesses have an established profit margin. This information may be available by simply asking other professionals in your field. Your accountant sees thousands of tax returns and may be able to give you an idea of the average "cost of sales" or "profit margins" for your type of business. The averages for certain industries are also compiled by financial ratings organizations such as Dun & Bradstreet, Moody's and Standard & Poor's. For example, if you are starting a coffeehouse, you could compare your sales, gross profit ratio, and net income to the averages for the retail sales/coffee industry compiled by Dun & Bradstreet.

It's amazing how many home based and small-business owners don't know if they're making a profit on service, parts or sales. Others don't know whether they're making or losing money on a particular job. The purpose of the accounting and budgetary process is to help you answer these questions and make the right management decisions. You can't plug the leaks in your revenue ship if you don't know where the holes are.

Again, using a program like Quickbooks allows you to see where time is spent for a particular project, what your costs are, how many employees were needed to complete the project and the time it took them (which gives you an idea of salary differential for certain projects).

If for example you are running a consulting business, Quickbooks allows you to track the number of hours you work on a project and what your costs are. In most consulting businesses your time is your valuable commodity. You need to be compensated for the time you spend on a particular project or with a client.

Copyright 2003 DeFiore Enterprises

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com